Singing in the Rain

I don't think I've stopped coughing all week, is have become quite a nuisance at work (though my students think it is hilarious to drill sentences that have ben disrupted with coughs).  I finally visited the doctor late in the week and have consumed my prescribed medications, but my health does not seem to be improving quickly.  The interesting thing about Taiwan is that you can pretty much tell how 'severe' a doctor perceives your illness to be based on how many pills you are prescribed, so the fact that I was only given three pills a day for three days practically means the doctor considered me healthy.  The struggle I go through to regain my breath after each coughing fit begs to differ, however.
For anyone living in Taiwan, the following will not come as a surprise, but to those living in the west, you might enjoy this insight into Taiwanese thinking.  I did a presentation for the parents of one of my youngest classes this past week, and as soon as the children were done, I broke out into a fit of coughing.  My manager decided to ask the children (in Chinese) what I should do to feel healthy again.  One after another, as if they were stating original responses, each child told me to "take medication".  They did not even use different phrasing, six students in a row responded "chi yao", which to me shows a lack of creativity as well as an engrained response to illness.  Could no one think to tell me to drink water? to sleep more?
Aside from the coughing, this week was also a little depressing due to the rain.  We are currently in the midst of the rainy season, which means I practically live in my plastic bag poncho or under my umbrella.  I have to ask myself daily whether it is worth it to apply make-up and dry my hair before driving to school, or if I should just bring some stuff to the teacher's room and get ready there.  The rain has been so heavy that it seems to have destroyed something in my scooter (a fuse or something?), so Monday morning, before heading to the school, I had to spend quality time walking 'Street Fighter' (my scooter's name) to the nearest shop for repairs.  Thankfully we were up and running within 30 minutes and still at school on time.
The rain was kind enough to clear in time for the weekend, which allowed what seemed like every foreigner in central Taiwan to attend the Compass Food and Music festival.  The festival is a two-day event which features 17 local bands (with both Taiwanese and English speaking singers), and a variety of global foods (such as Italian, Tibetan, Indian, Mexican, and Chinese).  After 8 hours of hearing other people sing, the music bug had hit us all, and we decided the best thing to do was to book a KTV room.  Clearly I have spent a lot of weeks singing while here in Taiwan, but this was one of my favorite karaoke nights.  Combined with a few other groups from the music festival, this was one of the largest groups I have gone to KTV with, and it was just nice to hear a new set of voices and a new selection of songs.

Nothing screams Asia like pandas.

At the Compass Festival

I find myself particularly proud of Changhua for this week's note, which is simply a regional note rather than a cultural one.  It appears that my county has begun the project of setting up 30 public bike rental stations which will provide access to more than 700 bikes.  All day today I saw groups of people checking out the bike racks, or peddling around town.  While some of the big cities, like Taipei and Kaohsiung have bike rentals, it was surprising to see this program start in Changhua, however I think it is a great idea.  The purpose is to decrease public transportation and move towards being a 'greener', low-carbon city, while also encouraging exercise.  One thing I am interested in seeing, however, is how well the bikes are maintained.  Almost everyone that has owned a bike from my group of friends has had it stolen or broken, which means the risk of non-returns or destructive behaviors is likely for these public bikes as well.  This is something we will need to see play out over the next few months (or years).